


Stupidity Needs Company, Said No-One Ever

by ThisIsLily



Category: Death Note (Anime & Manga)
Genre: L is weird, L just generally makes Light's life difficult, L worms his way into the kool kids table, Light is oddly attracted to this, M/M, bottom!Light, light may or may not be coerced into wearing a dress, sex will happen, the highschool au no one wants, top!L
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-25
Updated: 2017-10-06
Packaged: 2019-01-05 08:18:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12186348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThisIsLily/pseuds/ThisIsLily
Summary: That highschool au where where Light totally makes a Killer Robot in robotics and is 100% ready to use it on L, so god help him.(Or: That highschool au where L is a weird British exchange student, Light silently disapproves of his life choices and learns to cook in the foods class)





	1. Chapter 1

Exactly seventeen minutes early to class, Light was the second student to arrive to room 324. The teacher at the board writing first-day introductions to physics turned to look at the latest arrival and smiled: easily recognizing Light from the previous year.

Light smiled back politely, and dutifully took the front row window seat.

Just outside the confines of the room, through the door to the left, he could hear and see the animated bodies of students hurrying through the hallway, searching for their first period class—the first class of the new schoolyear. Reclining gracefully in his chosen seat, Light made a game of grouping each student he saw into _new_ and _returning_ , based on the level of panic and fear he saw in their faces. Most of the early students he saw he grouped into ‘new’, which he’d already suspected he would, and as the clock ticked closer to the first bell he recognized increasingly more retuning students, leisurely making their way around the familiar school. The population inside the classroom increased as well, a mix of fourth years (the majority) and a handful of third years (like Light). A plain brown-haired girl nervously took the seat beside him, clearly taking more notice of him than he did of her.

It appeared for a moment that she was about to say something to him, but then blushed and turned away.

The first bell rang.

The classroom was filled with chatter as friends reconciled over summer stories, and the teacher waited patiently for the second bell so that class could begin.

Light fought not to let his leg tap, impatience unsuccessfully trying to get the better of him. He’d already familiarized himself with the course work over the summer and was prepared for an uneventful semester. _Mostly._ This year he picked robotics and cooking as his two elective courses, two subjects in which he’d purposefully kept himself ignorant, hoping desperately the novelty would be enough to challenge him.

 

The teacher started talking. Class had begun.

“Welcome,” she said politely but briskly. “My name is Mrs. Misora. Some of you may recognize me from previous math classes you’ve had--- _yes,_ Jiro, I remember you---and physics is one of my teachables. However I must say,”

She paused, surveying the room, “Advanced Physics rarely attracts so many students.”

 

Fifteen students wasn’t a packed class by any means, Light thought, but he supposed for such a demanding course, it was. He recalled he’d been warned by the school’s administration that _‘this class might not run if students don’t sign up,’_ and was told to have a backup selection ready. _‘I see you’ve taken an interest in some of the social sciences! Perhaps you’d consider the Fashion and Textiles course?’_

Thankfully, it hadn’t come to that.

 

“We’ll start off with a brief introduction to space,” Mrs Misora explained, handing out the course outline. “This class will focus heavily on the celestial side of physics, and our culminating goal will be to have a greater understanding of the universe. My expectations----”

 

She was cut off by a rattling knock on the doorframe of the classroom’s entrance, where a tall, sheepish looking man stood.

 

Mrs Misora took one look at the figure and sighed. “What is it, Matsuda?”

 

Matsuda was one of the school’s guidance counselors, and while Light didn’t fall in the man’s allotted ‘district’ of students, he’d heard firsthand accounts of the man’s incompetence.

 

“W-well,” he sputtered, “there’s, um, been a bit of a mix-up with some of the exchange students’ schedules---”

 

“The exchange students from England! Matsuda, what on earth did you manage to screw up this time?” She scolded harshly, evidently unconcerned with their audience.

 

The man squeaked and pulled a figure out from the hallway, a student Light hadn’t noticed standing behind the counselor.

“ _Take him!”_ Matsuda said quickly before sprinting down the hallway.

 

“ _Matsuda!”_ she yelled.

The student who’d seemingly been dragged to the classroom was pressing a thumb to his lips, observing the classroom.

Likewise, the students stared back at him.

 

The situation pleasantly relieving Light of his prior boredom, he graciously took the time to properly scrutinize the latest arrival. _Is this what westerners look like in real life?_ Light thought. The man’s sloppy and hunched exterior seemed wildly out of place at what was considered a respectable secondary educational institution, and Light couldn’t help but feel a little offended at the man’s… _absurdity_.

His oversized white shirt and blue cargo pants almost reminded Light of the delinquents that hung around convenience store parking lots, consuming alcohol and god knows what else. Daikoku Private Academy didn’t have an overly restrictive dress code, but he could just picture the principal taking one look at the exchange student and immediately issuing school uniforms.

The young man’s face wasn’t much better, framed with unbrushed black hair and set in a gaunt, almost lifeless expression. Unnervingly, his large sunken eyes didn’t seem to blink.

 

Mrs Misora sighed and sat down at her desk. Seemingly unbothered by the new students’ strange appearance, she addressed him as she would any other student.

 

“Name?”

“L.”

His voice was an even monotone, but not completely abrasive sounding, Light noted.

 

“Is this a class you signed up for?”

 

L scratched his head before replying. “I was enrolled in International Law,” he said in perfect Japanese. “But I suspect that’s no longer the case.”

  

The teacher sighed and motioned to the empty desk behind Light. “Very well. Go sit down. _For what it’s worth, I apologise on behalf of my colleague, I’m almost certain this is his fault.”_ She spoke the last part of the sentence in her native English, earning a slight upturn of L’s lips in a strange expression which may have been a smile.

 

L made his way past Light, who, for the most part, played at ignoring the new student while glancing at him from the corner of his eye, admittedly intrigued. A few moments later he heard a gasp from the girl beside him and turned to her to find out why, when he chanced a look behind him and noticed how L was sitting.

If Light was shocked at the other male’s choice of attire, he didn’t even know what to think about this newest quirk. _Didn’t his parents teach him to sit like a human being?_ He berated in his head. The young man was perched on his seat like a frog, focusing his large eyes on the student in font of him.

“Do you need something?” L asked, never breaking eye contact.

Heat rose to Light’s cheeks as he realized he’d been gawking, which was completely inappropriate social conduct. Not that the new student seemed to have any concept of such a thing, but Light should have known better. Aiming to fix his faux-pas, Light schooled his expression and offered a polite smile. “I simply wished to welcome you to our school. It must be hard adjusting to such a new place.” And with that he turned back around to face the front, just as Mrs Misora began her introductions anew. For the next hour and a half, Light purposefully avoided looking behind him but he could swear he felt those eyes boring into the back of his head.


	2. Chapter 2

_“Stir harder!”_ Came from the far left of the classroom.

Light grit his teeth at the hoarse voice of the _Foods and Nutrition_ teacher, a stout old woman with a keen eye and oppressive standards. Straight to cooking on the first day, it was absurd! But as the old woman had explained, ‘ _I wish to see how well you all operate in the kitchen.’_

The university level course was, as most rigorous elective courses were, fairly void of students. Half of the students assigned to the class either didn’t show up or had been transferred last minute to other courses. Usually Light preferred a smaller assembly of students, like in physics, but in this case it just meant Madame Devir could spend more time terrorizing each student.

With no prior instruction concerning food preparation, kitchen conduct, and _safety procedures,_ Madame Devir simply handed each of the ten students a piece of paper with basic recipe, assigned them little kitchenettes, told them that only she would operate the oven (for now) and that under no circumstances were they to touch the knives (for now).

So far, Light was the only student who hadn’t made a mistake. He was counting his lucky stars he understood basic units of measurement and was converting the American units on his recipe to metric in his head. Unfortunately, it seemed not all his classmates were as numerically inclined because the girl in the kitchen next to his put two cups too many of sugar, much to the cackling amusement of the teacher.

He had the good fortune of making sugar cookies, which were fairly easy to prepare, but impossible to peel out of the cookie cutters. He managed, painstakingly preserving the neat circular shape. The old harpy of a woman actually smiled at him, teeth and all, gave him congratulations and shoved the cookies in the oven with strict instructions to call her over after fifteen minutes.

Light leaned against the sink, releasing the breath he’d been holding.

 _Maybe this was a bad idea,_ he thought.

 

* * *

 

 

Making his way into the cafeteria with a dozen or so cookies in a plastic container Madame had lent him, he was aggressively waved down by a familiar blond.

 _Damn,_ Light thought. He’d been sure the cheerleading sign-up event was today over break.

“LIGHT!” Misa screamed from a table in the centre of the room, half of the previous year’s cheerleading squad sitting with her. Light, sensing it was impossible to escape now that he had been noticed, warily made his way to the table.

“Oh Light~” She threw her arms around him in delight. “You didn’t text or call me all summer! I was so _lonely!_ ” she affected.

Light forced a pleasant expression on his face. “You know I had overnight French Camp all summer, Misa,” He explained slowly. “They don’t let us use cell phones there.” Suddenly he felt a familiar sensation prickling along his neck. He snapped his head to the side, meeting the heavy gaze of a certain exchange student.

L, never taking his eyes off Light, continued to eat from one of many cafeteria-bought pudding cups lined along his tray. “Hello, Yagami.” He said in an uninterested voice. “What brings you to my table?”

“Your,” Misa sputtered. “ _Your_ table?! This table belongs to the _cheerleaders_. No boys allowed!” She paused. “Except Light, of course.” She turned to her _amour._ “This weirdo has been sitting here since lunch started and he _won’t go away._ Make him move, Light!”

He was about to tell Misa that it was rude to exclude people from sitting in a public space and that perhaps she and her friends should move, when L spoke up. “I’ll gladly exchange my leaving for something sweet,” he said through his mouthful (disgusting, Light thought). “They don’t have any more pudding for sale. I bought it all.”

Misa gave an expectant look to her friends at the table. No response, until; “You… Don’t expect us to have _sugar_ , do you? Sugar totally makes you fat!”

The other girls voiced their agreement.

“Well then someone in this cafeteria does!” Misa huffed. She turned to Light. “Do you have anything sweet?”

No, he didn---

\----Yes, in fact, he did! Remembering the box of cookies he had in his backpack, Light made short work of pulling it out and handing it to the blond girl. Clearly astonished, she opened the box. “They’re still warm! Where did you buy these?” Light contemplated lying to her, claiming that his mother had just dropped them off, but decided not to.

“I made them in Food and Nutrition.”

Her eyes lit up. “Really? Oh Light! You’re just the perfect man, aren’t you? Well, there’s no way I’m going to give these precious cookies to that gross guy--- Hey!” The box had magically disappeared from her grasp. Not a foot away, L was scrutinizing its contents. To Misa’s despair, he reached in, took one, and ate it. “Hey! Those aren’t for you!” the girl whined.

L ignored her and took another cookie. “These will suffice,” he said. And with that, he left, leaving his tray and pudding-cup tower on the table. Misa fumed beside Light. “Who the hell does he think he is?”

 _That’s a good question,_ Light thought.

Later, when the bell finally did ring and the blond’s spirits had mostly risen out of the trenches, she walked with him to his next class before sprinting away to attend her own. Her third period was set aside for student council, of which she was the head. Although Light found her a bit… excessive, he admired her ability to persuade and lead, as well as her unyielding loyalty to whatever she was passionate about (which tended to be him, unfortunately). Most of Light’s friends were gained through Misa since, when given the option of studying or socializing, Light would always choose studying unless forced otherwise (que Misa).

The last two periods, Robotics then Sociology, were uneventful. He saw a few friendly faces, asked them about their summers, and then sat through teacher introductions and filled out a few ‘All about me!’ questionnaires from the instructors. After the morning he’d had, the onslaught of calmness felt strange. Eventually the bell rand and Light all but sprinted out of the building, hoping to avoid Misa.

 

The next day found Light laying in his bed, staring at his electric clock as the white numbers changed from 6:58, 6:59, and then---

 ** _BZZZZZZ_** _-CLICK!_ Light hit the large button on top almost as soon as the buzzer had started. Not allowing himself to fall back into bed, he swung his legs over and opened the first drawer pf his dresser, where a full week’s worth of outfits had already been assembled. He chose his dark crimson button-up and brown pants, and dug through the clean laundry bin in the hallway to find a pair of black socks. He’d have worn a tie as well, but his mother had once hinted that a tie was maybe a bit _too much_ for a seventeen-year-old. He combed his hair, washed his face, and, satisfied with his appearance, picked up his bag and left for school while waving his mother goodbye.

He showed up for physics ten minutes early this time, once again the second student to arrive. To his slight irritation, the person who’d beat him there was L. The other male was flipping through a large book, engrossed enough to not notice Light’s arrival.

“Good-morning, Mrs Misora,”

“Good-morning, Light. Please,” she said, motioning to a pile of books and a piece of paper. “Take a textbook and write you name and book number on the sign-out sheet. You’ll be using this as a reference for the rest of the year.”

Light did as instructed and took his seat in front of the dark-haired male. “Good morning,” Light told him. He got back a murmur of something that sounded like “you too” from the other man, too focused on his textbook to properly respond to Light. _Raised in a sewer,_ the auburn-haired male shot back in his head. God, what he wouldn’t give for the ability to voice his thoughts. Light wondered how the other would survive this class. Other than his admirable grasp on the Japanese language, he didn’t seem too bright.

Once the class had filled up, Misora pulled up a slideshow explaining light and matter.

“One of Einstein’s great contributions to science was, of course, the connection he discovered between matter and energy, which we know as the famous equation---”

Light found himself zoning out of the classroom through the window to his right, where a girl, probably on her spare, sat under a tree reading a book. Light wondered what it was about.

“Light!”

His attention snapped back to the classroom where Mrs Misora was looking at him.

“Einstein deduced that nothing travels faster than the speed of light, but that’s not necessarily true. Why?” She waited, expecting an answer.

Light smirked. “Well, technically it’s correct, but only in the literal sense. Space expands faster than light and space is ‘nothing’, therefore the only thing that accelerates faster than the speed of light is the expansion of space.”

With a raised eyebrow but not looking surprised in the least, Misora said “Well done. Now let---”

“Actually that’s incorrect,” came a bored voice from behind him.

Shocked, Light turned around to stare at the boy who gazed back at him. “Quantum entanglement causes thoughts in the human body to occur faster than light.” He tilted his head and looked up, as if deep in thought. “But since those thoughts are random and useless, we can’t really do much with that power.”

After a beat of silence, the students around them started to murmur.

_“Who is this guy?”_

  _‘Did you hear that? he’s smarter than **Light Yagami**!”_

_“This is the first time I heard that Yagami-kid mess up!”_

The teacher cleared her throat, re-focusing the classroom’s attention on her. She looked surprised, staring at the exchange student. “Yes, that’s correct, though I can’t say Quantum Entanglements are something we’ll cover in the course.” She clicked to the next slide and resumed her presentation.

Light’s ears were burning as he turned his head back to the front. His hands shook as he tried to keep his composure. L had clearly shown him up on purpose. But to what end? To show his intellectual superiority?

 _Well in that case,_ Light thought, a smirk creeping across his face as he stared down at his notes.

_It’s on, **L.**_


	3. Chapter 3

When class is over, Light is stopped in the hallway.

She’s short and wholly uninteresting, and she’s holding onto the sleeve of his red shirt with her hand. “I don’t think L’s smarter than you.” She whispers, unable to meet his gaze. It’s then that Light recognizes her as the brown-haired girl that sits next to him in class. He takes her hand in his, mostly to get it off his shirt, and says “It’s not a competition, but thank you for your kind words,” and walks off.

Behind him, the girl gazes from her hand to his retreating figure, and stares down the hallway long after he disappears from sight.

* * *

Light tries to avoid the cafeteria, but after ten minutes of wandering the hallways he finds no alternative sitting area and since he _refuses_ to eat sitting on the floor, he makes his way back down.

Instead of the over-the-top flag-down he’d received the previous day, the sight that greets him is Misa banging her fists on her lunch table and L ignoring her. _So we meet again._ Light carefully counts to five and composes himself; anger never accomplishes anything. If he’s to get back at L he must be sneaky, and he can’t risk losing face in public.

Light notices the cheerleaders on either side of L have compressed themselves to the edges of the bench, giving the black-haired male a wide breadth of space.

Taking advantage of her distracted state Light bypassed the blond, and sat across from L, smiling innocently at him in greeting and pulling his own lunch out to consume (Light would rather die than eat cafeteria food). He can feel L’s inquiring gaze.

Misa breaks out of whatever shock she’d been in seeing Light greet L in so friendly a manner and quickly sits next to him. “Light…?” she starts, but Light is swift with his tongue. “L and I have first period class together. He’s a new friend. Isn’t that right, L?”

In the short time Light had known the other male, this is the first time he’d seen the latter look surprised. “Considering the look you gave me in class today I’d thought you didn’t like me very much,” L said cautiously, “though I suppose it’s normal to be intimidated by intelligence, and I can’t fault you for that. I guess we can be friends.”

Oh, Light was _going to kill him._

Breathe, Light, Breathe.

He forced himself to laugh in response, in a way he hoped didn’t convey his murderous feelings towards the strange man.

Misa stared at him for a long while before breaking out into a grin and announcing, “Any friend of Light’s is a friend of mine!” with all previous animosity instantly forgotten. With that the group of girls at the table seemed to relax, but still gave L a comfortable amount of space. The male in question was munching on chocolate covered pretzels he’d bought from the school and judging by the quantity, Light was almost sure he’d purchased the entire stock. _That… Can’t be healthy,_ he thought.

“So dhid you brhing any mhore chookies?” L asked between mouthfuls. I took Light a few seconds to decipher what the student was asking him. “No, sorry. We didn’t do any cooking today,” which was true. Madame had decided to start teaching the course like a responsible instructor and had spent the hour going over safe food handling.

“that’s a shame,” the other boy said with a strange tone of disappointment. “They were quite good.”

Now it was Light’s turn to feel surprised; he certainly hadn’t been expecting any sort of compliment from L. _It’s probably just to throw me off guard,_ he reasoned.

After lunch Misa makes to follow Light to his class like she always does when Light holds up a hand to stop her. “Actually, Misa, L was going to walk me to class.”

“He is?”

“I am?”

“Of course L, that’s what friends do.” He states it like a fact instead of the ridiculous notion it is.

Misa’s mouth was floundering open and closed like a fish as the auburn-haired male grabbed his new ‘friend’ by the arm and dragged him out of the cafeteria. Misa watched them go, and a dawning realization made itself known to her. _“Oh,”_ she gasped.

* * *

L is surprisingly pliant to Light’s will, though he assumes the compliance stems from confusion. His heart is beating fast and he’s not sure why, and when they finally reach the robotics class Light is almost afraid to face the other man. When he does, L’s thumb is characteristically pressed to his lips and he’s staring at Light in a way that pierces through him.

“Is there, ah, a reason you dragged me to your class?” L asks slowly.

Suddenly Light is unsure of himself, of his plan to get back at the other boy. His smile is shaky as he says, “We’re friends.” It’s a weak explanation but it’s the only explanation he has, and somehow he’s lost control of the situation and looks down at his feet.

“hm,” Comes the response. There’s an uncomfortable silence before L continues. “I must confess, I… have never had a friend before.”

Light almost visibly gapes, completely uncertain of how to proceed after such a confession. His eyes widen, taking in the slouched figure in front of him. Never had a friend? Perhaps that was why he was so socially inept. But, was it _really_ a confession? What if L had caught on to Light’s plan somehow, and was attempting to gain an upper hand by inducing feelings of guilt? Yes! That had to be it. There was no-way anyone---even someone as strange as L---had never had a friend before. And even if he hadn’t, the admission, if true, was still likely meant to throw Light off his game. _Nice try, L_ , _but I won’t be falling for your traps any time soon._

Secure in the deduction that L was simply out to sabotage him, Light continued his ruse. “Well, you have one now,” he said as sincerely as he could.

The slight upturn of lips on L’s face reminded him of the first day with Misora, except now that smile was aimed at him. Light’s heart picked up its heavy pace from earlier. Clearly, he was coming down with something. Maybe the flu.

“Your class is Robotics, right? One of the other exchange students from my home school should be there.”

“Really?” The auburn-haired man replied. Light racked his brain, but couldn’t remember seeing anyone strange in the classroom the previous day. “Do you want me to say hello to them for you?”

L seems to think for a moment before he says; “No. I just wanted to warn you.”


	4. Chapter 4

 Stepping into the workshop classroom for the second day, Light was certainly more apprehensive this time around. The chubby, balding teacher at the front was fiddling with wires and batteries on the main desk, preparing what he assumed was some kind of demonstration on the use of circuits. All the desks in the classroom were round and big, allowing for more practical use than just taking notes. The students were seated two to a desk, with the exception of Light and two other students, who had managed to maintain _desk independence._

Like the first day, the second chair at Light’s table had a girly, childish _My Little Pony_ knapsack sat on the seat. And again, Light assumed it belonged to the girl who sat behind it, at the next table over. He didn’t particularly care, since he certainly wasn’t using the chair, and he understood the need to place one’s belongings where they weren’t likely to get in the way. He _did_ find the ‘theme’ of the bag incredibly immature, especially for a girl already in high school.

The bag was the strangest thing in the room. Looking around him, Light tried to figure out which student was the second exchangee.  

He placed his own backpack on the ground and removed his note-taking supplies. The teacher began explaining how to connect batteries and motors to the ‘brain’ of the pseudo-robots. He then passed around exemplars that were pre-programmed, and instructed each desk to repeat the motions he’d just showed. He adjusted his round glasses in a nervous way, Looking at Light’s table. “I would appreciate it if you would take part in this activity with your desk partner.” He said.

Confused, Light was about to respond that he clearly didn’t _have_ a desk partner, and if the teacher had maybe meant that he go pair up with someone who also didn’t have a partner, when suddenly there was a sharp _tug_ on his pant leg.

Light may have screamed, he didn’t know, all he registered was that he’d fell back on his chair in surprise and was currently staring up at the ceiling, with approximately five years taken off his lifespan. A few students giggled, and the rest were startled. Light maneuvered quickly on to his knees and looked at the perpetrator.

A boy, a very young-looking boy, was smiling unnervingly at him from under the table. He sat on his knees with a toy robot grasped in his hand. His hair and clothes--- _pajamas---_ were white, almost fading into the tile flooring like a chameleon. His free hand was extended in front of him, still not retracted from when he’d startled the older boy.

“You… What,” Light panted. _The boy, he was, what was, why_ \---

The teacher, having recovered from the unexpected situation first, immediately began explaining. “I had assumed you were aware, Yagami---you see, our new exchange student prefers to not use chairs and---”

“Were you there yesterday?” Light angrily questioned the strange child, ignoring the instructor.

A finger had made it’s way into the mess of hair on the child’s head and was absently curling around a lock. “Yes. Honestly, I don’t know how a competent human being would miss something like that.” His voice was teasing and arrogant. “Yagami, is it? As in the Police Chief’s son? I’d expect better from someone like you.”

“I’m _sorry_ ,” Light bit back, more than a little angry. “Insane children hiding under my desk isn’t something I’ve ever felt the need to be cautious of,”

“I’ll have you know I’m perfectly sane,” The boy responded calmly, “And you won’t get very far as a detective with a mindset like that.”

_How did he…?_ Light shook his head. He wasn’t going to let some flour-covered ingrate of a child work him up. He stood, brushing the floor-dust off his pants. He took a breath. “You’re right. I apologise for my outburst. Let’s…  let’s put this behind and work on our project.”

_‘That’s Yagami for you, always so mature!’_

_‘Yeah I would’ve totally punched that brat!’_

The other students whispered around them as Light and the strange student took their seats at the desk. It was physics class all over again, although this gossip was a little easier to take. The other boy re-located his pony-covered bag to the floor. “I’m fifteen, by the way.” He said.

_Bullshit,_ Light thought.

The teacher remained hovering over the desk, trying still to placate the private school’s top student: “Really, this is my fault. You see, we’ve been trying to sufficiently meet the, er, needs of the transfer students, of course something like this would never usually happen, I hope you don’t consider dropping the course because of---”

“It’s _okay_ ,” Light assured the teacher. “I understand. I was just surprised, that’s all.”

A look of relief crossed the teacher’s face, happy the coveted son of the police chief wasn’t going to hold a grudge.

Light spent the rest of the class smile-glaring at the offending body beside him. Surprisingly, the kid turned out to be fairly competent, and they were the first pair to finish the task successfully. The child--- _Near,_ he claimed to be called, though Light was sure that was the English word for ‘close’--- returned under the desk with his robot and stayed there for the rest of the class.

Light shuffled home that day feeling drowsier than after a twenty-four-hour study session (which didn’t happen often, mind you. Regular review and a consistent sleep schedule were much more effective than cramming). He’d almost consider taking a sip of coffee from what was left over in his parents’ coffee pot, if he didn’t hate the stuff.

His sister’s school ended later than his, so Light was the only one home, one of the rare occasions he didn’t manage to catch his mother before she went out to fetch the younger sibling.

Light hung his coat on the rack in the hallway. It was still warm in Japan this time of year, but a chilly wind was hanging around as September marched on. He climbed up to his room and uncharacteristically fell face first into his bed. After about five minutes of self pity he rose and changed into acceptable house clothes before once again crawling into bed while setting a two-hour alarm on his phone, since his clock was too hard to rig. _I deserve this_ , he reasoned. _I’m tired, I don’t have homework, four hours of study tonight are more than… enough…_

Soft breathing could barely be heard in the dark room, the bed sheets covering Lights body rising and falling slowly.

* * *

 

When Light awoke it was abruptly, and he and he searched for his phone before pulling it out from under his pillow. It took him a second to realize that it wasn’t his alarm, but a ringtone. The caller was an unknown number.

“Yes?” Light answered, voice slightly cracked and tired. He cleared his throat.

“I assume this is Light-kun?” The voice asked. “You sound as if you were sleeping. I apologise. I had been assured you’d be available at this time, though it seems that information was incorrect.”

Light would recognise that annoying speech pattern anywhere. “L?” he asked, voice clearer.

“Since I have caught you at an inopportune time, I will call be back later---”

“Wait!” Light said. “I’m awake. How did you get my number?” he asked.

“Miss Amane forcefully entered it into my phone. She claimed that friends make a habit of contacting each other, though I don’t see the point in such a practice.”

The groggy male wondered if L talked in circles on purpose. “Misa gave you my number? When?” he asked, both curious and cross with the overbearing girl.

“Miss Amane and I both participate in the student council. Anyhow, since I fulfilled my duty of ensuring your well-being, I will hang up now. Goodbye, Light-kun.” L ended the call.

Light stared at his phone until the real alarm sounded.


End file.
